Mass Comm week continues with Maimi Twice

Interested in investigative journalism or crime reporting? How about authoring your first book? Expose yourself to it all in one event. An editor and an investigative journalist, both from the Miami Herald, share their experiences as first time authors. Police and Courts Editor Sergio Bustos discusses his book, Miami’s Criminal Past: Uncovered, while journalist Ronnie Greene tells the story behind Night Fire: Big Oil, Poison Air, and Margie Richard’s Fight to Save her town.

The presentation is 11 a.m.-Noon on Thursday, October 9 in Virginia Rooms C & D.

Ronnie Greene is a journalist with The Miami Herald and teaches journalism at the University of Miami. His first book is Night Fire: Big Oil, Poison Air, and Margie Richard's Fight to Save Her Town. The book tells the story of Richard’s hometown in Louisiana and the effects of a chemical plant owned by Shell that sickened many residents.

Determined to see Shell take responsibility for its actions, Richard and her fellow low-income neighbors fought back. The battle took them from Louisiana to The Hague and beyond. Greene’s book illustrates how determination and grit can move even the most stubborn of corporate giants.

Sergio Bustos is the police and courts editor at the Miami Herald. Bustos' book, Miami's Criminal Past: Uncovered, goes beyond the Hollywood imagery of Miami’s criminal underworld to present the dramatic history of true crime tales.

Beyond Scarface and Miami Vice are Miami’s real-life vigilantes, the family tragedies, the politically motivated homicides and the rampageous cross-country killers. Of course, there’s also the inevitable stories of celebrities behaving badly – as when Jim Morrison allegedly exposed himself during a 1969 Doors concert – along with accounts of celebrity murders, such as the 1997 slaying of fashion designer Gianni Versace. Bustos’ edgy book delves into the dark side of Miami’s glittering streets.